BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 26. bp expects to see the first volumes of oil from the Azeri Central East (ACE) platform of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) block in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea in early 2024, bp Vice President for the Caspian region Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli in an interview with local media, Trend reports.
According to the vice president, the support block of this platform was sent to sea in December 2022 with the participation of President Ilham Aliyev. The upper blocks of the platform will be sent to sea this year, and accordingly, it is planned to start drilling the first well through the ACE platform in 2023.
"ACG is a very important project for the economy of Azerbaijan, and we, as platform operators, feel a great responsibility to the government. Despite the fact that we have drilled more wells from year to year, unfortunately, oil production is falling. We are seriously discussing this issue with SOCAR and the government," Aslanbayli added.
The ACE project costing $6 billion includes a new offshore platform and other facilities designed to produce up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day. The ACE platform will maintain oil production at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of fields above 400,000 barrels per day until the end of the 2020s.
Within the project, a new 48-slot production, drilling, and quarters platform will be built mid-way between the existing Central Azeri and East Azeri platforms in a water depth of approximately 140 meters.
The project will also include new infield pipelines to transfer oil and gas from the ACE platform to the existing ACG Phase 2 oil and gas export pipelines for transportation to the onshore Sangachal terminal. The jacket will be installed in a water depth of 137 meters.